


Phantomwise

by Enneara



Series: Reflections [2]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Sex, Corridor Sex, F/M, Friendship/Love, Oral Sex, Refractory Period, Symbionts, Tension, Trills, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 12:31:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8667799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enneara/pseuds/Enneara
Summary: ‘It’s interesting to know there are parts of you that are conflicted about this too. The only difference is, mine have names.’After a fundamental change in her relationship with Benjamin, Dax grapples with what Curzon would think of it all. Sequel to Contrariwise.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Dax and Sisko’s confusing sexytimes continue, this time from Dax’s point of view. Trill xenobiology headcanons as introduced in the previous fic, so would recommend reading that one first. For this one I also made up a Bajoran festival - I figure they have a lot of festivals. Spoilers for Through the Looking Glass and Life Support, implied spoilers for Facets.
> 
> Thanks so much to everyone who left comments or kudos on Contrariwise, I really appreciate it!

‘“Well, it's no use your talking about waking him,” said Tweedledum, “when you're only one of the things in his dream.”’ ~ Lewis Carroll, _Through the Looking Glass_

\----

In Dax’s dream, she was Curzon. He sat in the chair in her quarters cradling a glass of tranya, watching herself and Benjamin fuck.

It was a rousing sight, once he got over his amusement. Jadzia was in the full throes of _i’takish_ , and he saw how the partial paralysis made her movements slow and heavy, saw how Benjamin attended to her, moving for her where she couldn’t, covering the sensitive spots on her neck with kisses. The boy had learned well. Curzon watched their bodies moving together and felt an intense, unfocused jealousy.

Jadzia cried out, and a moment later her _i’takish_ was past, leaving her shivering. Benjamin slumped back, spent.

Curzon tried for detached humor. ’Did you do this to try and make me uncomfortable?’

Jadzia turned her head and looked at him coolly. It was one aspect of being joined that you never got used to: seeing yourself as the Other. He marvelled that this beautiful creature could be part of him.

‘We did it because we wanted to,’ she said.

Curzon felt implicated in that _we_ , and at the same time sharply alone. He missed being alive, missed having a body of his own, missed being able to feel anything without it coming through Jadzia. It made his next question harsher. ‘So is this your way of claiming him for yourself?’

Jadzia smirked. ‘He’s not mine, or yours. He’s ours.’

‘He is his own,’ Curzon corrected her. ‘And you are not what he needs. Not like this.’

Jadzia looked down at Benjamin, who was already asleep. ‘Maybe not. But right now I’m what he wants.’

Curzon laughed. ’He doesn’t know what he wants. He wants your body like a lover, and he loves your soul like an older brother, and for him those two things will never fit together.’

Jadzia turned and stood, staring at him in anger. He took in her nakedness with a perverse pleasure.

‘Why do you always think you know better?’ she demanded.

‘Because you dream me that way, my dear.’ He raised his glass to her. ‘Nevertheless. I will enjoy seeing how this plays out.’

*

Dax woke unsure of who or where she was. Stemming her panic, she muttered the centering chant under her breath until her identity coalesced: she was Jadzia, and she was in her quarters on Deep Space Nine. She lay naked on the couch. Beside her, also naked under the blanket she’d drawn over them, was Benjamin.

The sight of him centered her more quickly than the chant. Curzon’s resentment came back to her, vivid and sharp. Her previous hosts had been taking over her dreams more and more lately. She knew it was another sign she should stop putting off her _zhian’tara_. Pushing the thought away, she got up, careful not to disturb Benjamin, and went to the sonic shower.

Images of the previous night came to her like she was seeing them in the third person, taking a voyeuristic enjoyment in her own pleasure. She shuddered, tracing the lines of her spots down her neck, feeling Benjamin’s mouth there, hot and ardent.

His voice came through the door. ‘Room for some company?’

‘Of course.’ The shower’s hum stalled as the door opened. He stood, shy, while she looked him up and down.

‘Come in if you’re coming in.’ She turned to spare his self-consciousness. The hum started up, and the pulsing pressure on her skin returned. She felt Benjamin’s hands on her hips, his lips on her neck. She leaned back into him, closing her eyes. This was good, and she wanted it, and what Curzon thought about it didn’t matter. She was Dax now, and she made the decisions.

‘So.’ Benjamin’s voice was low at her back. ‘I seem to remember we were going to have a rational discussion about this.’

She looked at him over her shoulder. ‘Yes. Then you followed me into the shower.’

He laughed, and her heart swelled with complicated love. ‘I did. Well observed.’ He turned her in his arms, looked into her eyes. ‘This must be why they made you science officer.’

‘Must be.’ She looked away from the complication of his eyes to the simplicity of his mouth. She kissed him hungrily, ran her hands over the muscles of his shoulders, pulled him close. The first waves of arousal ran down her, and she wanted to keep him there, make him hers, until he opened her up again and brought her beyond speech. When he broke away she was already gasping.

‘I can’t stay.’ He kissed her neck and she groaned in protest.

‘Then you shouldn’t have come in here.’ Her hand followed his, tracing down where her spots were rippling in time with the pulses of the shower.

‘I know.’ He rested his forehead against hers. ‘Dax.’

‘Benjamin,’ she said with mock seriousness.

‘I — this is —’ He drew back with difficulty. ‘I think the rational discussion would be a good idea.’

She nodded, letting out her breath. ‘You’re right.’

‘And I think it would be easier if we were dressed.’

‘And on neutral territory,’ she added, running her hands down his body.

He closed his eyes with pleasure. ’Or at the very least, not in your shower.’

‘Hmm. Perhaps.’

He opened his eyes and stepped back. ‘The replimat. Fifteen hundred.’

She nodded, strangely serious. ‘I’ll be there.’

He hovered awkwardly for one more instant before leaving.

The door closed. The shower started up again. Dax pressed her head against the wall and groaned.

*

Luckily, there was plenty to distract her. Their last trip into the Gamma Quadrant had furnished her with a bounty of new samples to catalog. She was so absorbed in the peculiarities of one crystalline substance that she didn’t notice fifteen hundred hours coming and going.

At fifteen twenty, she hurried to the replimat. Benjamin was nursing a raktajino. When he looked up at her, she couldn’t tell if it was more with relief or apprehension.

‘I’m so sorry, Benjamin. Believe it or not, I got caught up in work.’ She pointed to his mug. ‘Can I get you another?’

He handed it to her, searching her face. ‘I was beginning to think you’d had second thoughts.’

‘Oh no, you know me. There’s nothing I love more than a rational discussion.’ She smirked at him and went to get them two more raktajinos.

When she came back, he still looked worried. She consulted everything she knew about Benjamin and went for what might get him to relax.

‘So,’ she said with a smile. ‘I’m curious. How did I measure up?’

He looked nonplussed. ‘To what?’

‘To my counterpart.’ She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘The honor of our universe is at stake, Benjamin. I want to know I defended it well.’

It worked. He laughed, and gave her a low whistle. ‘Let’s just say this universe has nothing to worry about.’

She laughed, raising her raktajino. He clinked it with his. They grinned at each other. For the first time since the previous night, things felt almost normal between them.

‘Old man,’ said Benjamin, shaking his head. ‘I’ll be honest with you. Part of me is surprised our universe is still standing, considering we turned it upside down.’ He searched her face. ‘You seem to be taking this with much more equanimity.’

She gave him a brilliant smile. Laughing softly, she looked down. ‘Honestly? I’m really not.’

He faced her across the table: her Benjamin as she had always known him, steady and compassionate. ‘Tell me.’

She took a sip of her raktajino, wrapped her cold hands around the mug. ‘I dreamed I was Curzon.’

Benjamin leaned forward, curious. ‘That’s not so unusual, is it? Curzon told me his dreams were often from the perspective of previous hosts.’

‘Yes, it’s common. But this one was different.’ She looked reflexively over Benjamin’s shoulder. No one was close enough to overhear. ‘Curzon was very — present. He was aware of what we were doing. And he didn’t approve.’

Benjamin frowned. ‘I’m surprised.’ He rubbed his head. ‘I mean, thinking about what Curzon would think about this is enough to tie my brain in knots. But you said yourself that Trill are more flexible about these things. If that’s so, why should he disapprove?’

Dax smiled. ‘He thinks I’m using my woman’s wiles to get close to you in a way he couldn’t.’ She looked into her raktajino, lowering her voice. ‘He thinks you feel desire for me, and friendship for him, and that those two things will never reconcile.’

‘Ah. I see.’ Benjamin leaned back. ‘Dax, you know I respected Curzon. But one thing we never agreed on was his views on women.’

Dax looked up in surprise. ‘What do you mean?’

Benjamin frowned, measuring his words. ‘I won’t deny this has been — confusing for me. But the idea that my friendship is something that is Curzon's alone, that what I feel for you is somehow lesser — well, from what I knew of him, I can see why he would think that. But know that it isn’t true.’ He reached out and covered her hand with his own.

Dax smiled at him, met the answering warmth in his eyes. She wanted to leave her hand under his, but she withdrew it, glancing over his shoulder.

‘There are — other factors, of course,’ Benjamin went on, watching her pull her hand away. ’You were right that our professional relationship already has complications. But I have to take seriously that what we’re doing goes against every rule in the book. Our — personal history doesn’t excuse that.’

She nodded. ‘I understand.’ She knotted her hands together. ‘Maybe it would be easier for both of us if we just let this drop.’

‘Easier, certainly.’ Benjamin sighed, then looked up at her with a wicked grin. ‘But not half as much _fun_.’

They held each other’s gaze. She felt the heat of it, and remembered how good it had been: how the rapport that had always been half a step from flirting had ignited into passionate give-and-take. She sipped her drink, not breaking his gaze. ‘So you don’t want to just drop it.’

‘If I’m honest? No. Not entirely.’

She smiled. ‘It’s interesting to know there are parts of you that are conflicted about this too. The only difference is, mine have names.’ She sighed, hearing the echo of Curzon in what she was about to say. ‘Benjamin. I know this isn’t what you need, long-term. And I don’t want to stand in the way of you finding something serious with another woman. But in the meantime, if you’d like to keep exploring this, I would certainly be open to the idea.’

He looked down, drumming his fingers on the table. When he looked up, it was with the air of a decision. ‘I still don’t think there’s any harm in — getting this out of our systems. If that’s what this is about.’

‘All right.’ She grinned at him. ‘Does that conclude the rational discussion?’

He nodded. ‘I think we did very well. Don’t you?’

‘The Vulcans would be proud.’ She stood. ‘Oh. Will I see you at the festival this evening?’

Benjamin looked at her for a moment, confused.

‘The Ahkayah Festival. On the Promenade.’ Dax cocked her head. ‘I’m sure the Vedeks are expecting you to attend.’

‘Of course. Yes.’ He looked down, shaking his head. ‘I sometimes wonder how, with so many festivals to celebrate, the Bajorans get anything done.’

Dax smiled. ‘See you later, Benjamin.’

*

Dax finished her shift in Ops, used her terminal to make some quick adjustments to the security system, and went back to her quarters to get changed.

As she scanned through clothing options, she thought of a discussion Curzon and Benjamin had once had about their particular weaknesses when it came to women. Smiling at the memory, she chose a dress that was slit to mid-thigh.

She admired herself in the mirror, turning to find the angle that showed the spots running up her leg. ’How’s this for claiming him for myself, old man?’ she said.

If Curzon was watching, he didn’t reply.

Laughing, she shook her head at herself and left her quarters.

The Promenade was full. She attracted a few stares, but it wasn’t because her dress stood out: the Ahkayah Festival was a time when the usually sombre Bajorans went all-out, vying with each other for who could be most uncharacteristically flamboyant. She scanned the colorful crowd until she saw Benjamin, talking to one of the Vedeks. He was in a rich red ensemble that suited him, but that she hadn’t seen him wear before. She wondered if he’d replicated something new for the occasion, or for her.

She didn’t approach him directly. She circulated, darting glances at him through the crowd, drunk on the way he looked at her: never obviously, never when anyone else was looking, but with a kind of dazed hunger when she met his eyes. She felt desperately seen: worried that to everyone else she was a flare, her desire for him a bright, visible pulse.

Kira was the only one who seemed to notice anything.

‘Dax,’ she repeated, waving. When Dax finally focused on her, she frowned, eyes crinkling with amusement. ‘What is it with you today? I’ve never seen you so — out of it.’

‘Oh. It’s — nothing. It’s been a long day, that’s all.’

Kira looked at her knowingly. ‘And I don’t believe you for a second. But you obviously don’t want to talk about it right now, so I’ll have to get it out of you some other time.’

Dax looked fondly at her friend. Still in mourning for Bareil, Kira was dressed fairly sombrely by Ahkayah Festival standards, in a moss-green tunic with a burgundy shawl.

‘If you say so,’ Dax said.

‘I do say so. Nothing stays secret from me for long. Just ask Odo.’

Dax wished she could confide in Kira: tell her what it was like to fuck your old friend and resent yourself for doing it. But that was out of the question. What she and Benjamin were doing was bad enough without the rest of the senior staff knowing about it. Instead, she switched to the topic of the festival. ’Ahkayah is the Bajoran word for love, isn’t it?’

Kira lit up, as she always did when the conversation turned to her culture. ‘Yes. But it’s not just about romantic love. It’s about all kinds of love. Love for the Prophets. Love between friends. Love for your people, or even the love of knowledge. And the recognition that all those kinds of love are not separate. That they can mingle, and change, and become each other over time.’

Dax smiled, looking through the crowd to where Benjamin was laughing. ‘I like that.’

*

Ever the beacon of professionalism, Benjamin didn’t so much as talk to her until they found themselves side by side at the drinks table as the event was winding down.

‘How’s your evening going?’ she asked him.

‘Well enough. Although I find myself a little — distracted.’ He gave her a quick, intense glance.

‘Funny. Kira was accusing me of the same thing.’ Dax looked blandly out into the gathering as she continued. ’Speaking of distraction. Did you hear? Upper pylon three has been closed off for repairs.’ She swayed a little, brushing against him. ‘I took the liberty of replacing the security feed up there with a loop of last week’s.’

His brow furrowed. ‘That’s not going to fool Odo.’

She made a considering face. ‘Not for more than a couple of hours, maybe.’ 

‘Hmm.’ Benjamin scanned the company. ‘I think it’s time I made my excuses.’

She smiled. ‘I couldn’t agree more.’

Dax brushed off Kira’s invitation to continue the revelry in her quarters, pleading a headache. She made for the service turbolift, away from the departing crowds.

‘Upper pylon three,’ she said. Just then, Benjamin strode around the corner. Dax smirked. ‘Hold,’ she commanded. She leaned back against the rail, parting her legs so the slit of the dress fell open.

Benjamin strode towards her, naked hunger in his eyes. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he had lifted her up and pinned her to the wall. Instead, he turned and stood a polite distance from her, facing outward.

‘Resume,’ she said, and the doors closed.

They stood side by side, not looking at each other. Dax felt desire knotting the air between them. She closed her eyes, gripping the rail.

The lift stopped; the doors opened. Dax walked out into the unlit corridor. Benjamin’s quick steps followed. When they were safely shrouded in darkness, she turned around.

‘Dax,’ he groaned, and lunged for her, pressing her up against the wall, his hand going to the slit in her dress and pushing it up her thigh. The differential in their body temperatures made him a furnace against her. She could feel how aroused he was: it delighted her that her transparent plan had worked.

‘You like the dress?’ she said into his ear.

‘You _know_ I like the dress. And I know why you’re wearing it.’ He slid his hand up to her hip, voice going dark with amusement. ‘Dirty old man.’

She laughed. ‘You know me too well.’

They kissed with desperate imprecision, already half-drunk on each other. She held his head between her hands, quaking with want. He pulled down the straps of her dress, cupped her breasts hungrily, went for her neck with biting, sucking kisses. She held onto him tight enough to leave bruises.

‘I want you now,’ he said in a low, urgent voice. He ripped the slit of the dress until it gaped to her belly, groped impatiently between her legs. ‘Dax,’ he gasped, grinding against her in frustration.

‘Wait.’ She turned him around and pressed him against the wall. She stepped back from him, her breath coming fast. She needed to slow this down. ’Undress,’ she said.

He did as she told him, his eyes never leaving her. She let herself stare, taking in the sturdy, powerful beauty of his body. She stepped closer and guided his hands to the ripped slit of the dress. ‘Go on. Finish it.’

Staring at her, wild-eyed, he tore the dress in two. He threw it aside and pulled her in, pressing her against him. She slid down him, letting her breasts brush against his hard cock, enjoying his answering moan.

’I want you —’ His voice was fevered, desperate. ’Let me, please let me take you there —’

‘All in good time,’ she said, and took him in her mouth.

He choked. She smiled around him, luxuriating in his taste, utterly strange to her but not unpleasant. It still gave her a transgressive thrill, doing what she would never do with a Trill man. Benjamin groaned as she sped up, increasing her pressure.

‘Dax — stop —’

She let him go and looked up at him. ’Do you really want me to stop?’

He looked down at her, his eyes dark. ‘No.’

She went back to mouth-fucking him. He jerked, cried out, and came. She swallowed, glad she’d checked the composition of human semen to make sure it was compatible with Trill physiology. No sense accidentally poisoning herself in the name of being a considerate lover.

Benjamin sank down under the window, gasping. Dax folded herself around him, laughing softly. Giving him pleasure had excited her: already she felt the warm, almost painful knot between her legs that foretold _i’takish_. ‘I’m almost there. Are you —’ She reached for him, but he recoiled, laughing. ‘Benjamin? What is it?’

‘Dax, I’m going to — need a moment. Several moments.’

‘Why? What happened?’ She drew back, concerned. ‘Did I do something wrong?’

‘No! No, the opposite.’ He was still laughing, eyes closed. ‘Humans have a — refractory period. It’s going to be physically impossible for me to — to respond to you for a little while.’

‘Oh.’ She sat back against the wall. ‘Really?’

He opened one eye and looked at her. ‘You didn’t know? I thought you of all people would have done your research.’

‘I thought I had,’ she said grumpily. ‘Human women don’t have any kind of refractory period. At least, not in my experience.’

‘And there you come upon one of the fundamental injustices of our physiology.’ Benjamin settled back against the wall, his breath coming slower.

‘How long?’

‘Depends. Half an hour?’ He smiled slowly. ‘If you’d caught me twenty years ago, would have been fifteen minutes.’

She laughed despite herself. ‘If I’d caught you twenty years ago, I don’t think you’d have been so enthusiastic.’

‘Thinking about that is not going make this any shorter.’

She lay down on her back, looking up at him outlined by stars. ‘Maybe we do need to think about it,’ she said. ‘Or at least, I do.’

He opened his eyes and looked down at her. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I need to find some way to make Curzon okay with this. Otherwise, I don’t think the dreams are going to stop.’

He lay down with her, throwing his arm across her. She turned on her side, pressing herself back into his warmth. They lay that way for some time, so that when his voice rumbled through her it surprised her.

‘Maybe you should stop putting off your _zhian’tara_.’

She shifted, turning to look at him. ‘How do you know about that?’

‘After you made excuses to the Symbiosis Commission the first two times, they contacted me to ask if there was anything wrong.’ 

She relaxed back into his arms. ‘And what did you say?’

‘I said as far as I knew everything was fine, and that while I was happy to help them in any way, the question of your _zhian’tara_ was a Trill matter and I was not in a position to intervene.’

‘Diplomat,’ she said teasingly.

‘Always. But despite my official non-interventionist policy — I think talking to Curzon in person might be a good idea.’

She sighed. ‘You’re right. I’ll tell the Symbiosis Commission I’m ready.’ She settled back into his embrace. He ran his hand along her spots, from her neck around the curve of her breast to her belly. She shuddered. ‘Careful,’ she said. ‘I’m still close.’

He flattened his hand on her belly, over the scar that had made an old friend of her. His melodious, beloved voice spoke directly into her ear. ‘Do you know how it makes me feel? That I can do this — irrevocable thing to you. That I can make you helpless with pleasure, and that it makes you — open to me in a way you weren’t before?’

Her breathing came faster. ‘It makes you feel good.’

‘Yes.’ His hand kept moving, teasing her, making her arch back against him. ‘I couldn’t think of anything else all day. I kept — drifting off. Thinking about what _i’takish_ did to you. How it felt to be inside you.’

His hand drifted lower, tickled the backs of her knees. She spasmed with pleasure. ‘Benjamin!’ The knot between her legs felt swollen as ripe fruit. ’I’m warning you. I don’t want to go into _i’takish_ until you’re ready.’

‘I’m getting there, trust me.’ He touched her more gently, tracing his fingers along her hip. ‘You’re so vulnerable in that moment. Does it scare you?’

‘Yes.’ She breathed, feeling the knot between her legs tighten into an ache. ‘Trill women have to trust their lovers.’

‘Do you trust me?’

She turned to face him. ‘With my life,’ she said simply.

He kissed her. She responded to him, her hand coming up to cup his cheek. Their tongues slid together lazily. He pulled her closer to him, and she wrapped her leg around him.

‘Ah,’ she said. ‘Systems appear to be coming back online, Commander.’

He gave her a mock-serious look. ‘You know I could recommend disciplinary action for that.’

A flash of annoyance lit her. ‘And you know that even though you happen to outrank me, I still have twice your experience.’

‘Ah. Old man, is that you?’ Benjamin grinned. ‘Nice of you to join us.’

‘Don’t encourage him,’ said Dax, half-laughing.

‘On the contrary. We want him to feel included, don’t we? Maybe this will bring him round,’ he said, and bent to her belly, flicking his tongue around her _sura malikon_.

‘Benjamin.’ She shuddered. Her hosts were awakening, the madly firing nerve endings of the symbiont drawing them all back into ghostly flesh. She was eight naked bodies writhing, with Benjamin at the centre of them all, impossibly pleasuring all of them at once: her lover. Their lover. ‘Benjamin — oh —’

Growling with pleasure, he moved up her body, his hard cock pressing against her thigh. He kissed her neck, his hot mouth working her while his fingers did gentle violence to the sensitive region at the base of her spine. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You’re close, aren’t you.’

‘Oh.’ Colors were starting to burst in her vision. She shuddered and went rigid. ’Oh —’

Her voice cut off mid-groan. She felt her mouth open wide, felt the quake of _i’takish_ pulsate through her as the knot between her legs swelled and blossomed, opening her _sanatara_. She heard Benjamin swear, saw fear and arousal mingle on his face. His thumb rubbed the ridge between her openings and she cried out silently, paralysed by waves of pleasure that flowed up and down her like static.

 _I’takish_ did strange things to time. She knew the semi-paralysis only lasted for about five minutes, but to her it seemed she had been there for hours, drinking in the pleasure Benjamin gave her, watching his outline doubling and redoubling against a backdrop of stars. He turned her, held her up against the window, the coolness of the transparent aluminium a welcome contrast to the heat of his body.

The narcotic hormone coursing through her made everything slow, made every caress of his hand a lake of fire lapping against her. She moaned in wordless frustration until he slid his fingers inside her. She bucked in pleasure, almost blacking out with the intensity of it. Movement was coming back, the paralysis of the first phase leaving her.

’Benjamin,’ she muttered, speech returning. She took him in her hand and guided him into her.

He was a scalding, solid heat inside her. His free arm held her up, the pressure mounting as he thrust into her narrowing _sanatara_ , thumping her back against the window. She pushed back against his fingers, his cock, riding the cresting wave, spilling over as she met his eyes. She went limp in his arms as he came again with a harsh cry, his eyes squeezing shut.

The next time she was conscious of anything, she was on the floor. Benjamin was leaning over her with some worry, brushing her hair back from her face. ‘Dax?’

‘I’m fine,’ she gasped. The narcotic glow of _i’takish_ still draped everything in color. ‘Just — that was —’

‘I know how it was,’ he said feelingly.

‘We are _good_ at this,’ she said, with a burst of pride.

He laughed. ‘We really are, old man.’

She rested her head against his chest and smiled. Difficult dreams were coming, and she had her _zhian’tara_ to get through, but here, now, as Jadzia, she didn’t have any regrets.

‘I’m sorry about your dress,’ said Benjamin, ruefully holding up the ripped material.

‘I can always replicate another one.’ She lifted her head, examining her nakedness. ‘The more immediate question is how I’m going to get back to my quarters without causing a station-wide scandal.’

Reaching to the side, Benjamin picked up his shirt and pulled it across her shoulders. ‘You take this. I take the pants.’

‘What’s our story? We were set upon by over-excited festival-goers?’

His eyes widened. ‘It is the festival of _love_ ,’ he said with a grin.

She laughed, slumping against him, in love with the heat of his body, with his laughing face, with everything he was. ‘I was reliably informed by Kira that it isn’t just about the naked kind. There are other sorts of love, you know.’

He chuckled, fingers tangling in her hair. ‘I know. And I know the distance between them isn’t as far as I might have thought.’

‘Mmm.’ She looked idly up, stretching her arms. ‘What do you think the chances are that Odo is watching us right now?’

Benjamin waved at the ceiling. ‘Hello Constable. We hope you enjoyed the show. I look forward to your report tomorrow morning.’

She nestled into him, laughing. ‘Be sure to pass me a copy. We have the reputation of our universe to uphold, after all.’

He laughed with her, kissing the top of her head. They sat with their arms around each other, looking out at the endless stars.


End file.
